While they are often marketed as a healthier option to cigarettes, a new study has found that people who use vapes are at a higher risk of heart failure compared to those who have never used e-cigarettes.
The study was published by the American College of Cardiology and found that those who had used e-cigarettes were 19% more likely to develop heart failure in their life.
“More and more studies are linking e-cigarettes to harmful effects and finding that it might not be as safe as previously thought,” the study’s lead author, Dr. Yakubu Bene-Alhasan, shared. “The difference we saw was substantial. It’s worth considering the consequences to your health, especially with regard to heart health.”
The study analyzed data from a larger study that examined the link between e-cigarette use and new cases of heart failure. The data sample included 175,667 participants.
The number one type of heart failure found in e-cigarette users was HFpEF, which makes the heart muscle stiffen and fail to fill with blood properly between contractions.
“The findings align with previous studies conducted in animals, which signaled e-cigarette use can affect the heart in ways that are relevant to the heart changes involved in heart failure,” the study said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 4.5% of US adults use e-cigarettes. At the same time, 25.2% of middle and high school students who admitted to using e-cigarettes said they do so daily.
The survey found that among younger users, 89.4% said they use flavored e-cigarettes.
Even more concreting in the CDC data is that most of the e-cigarettes younger people admit to using, contain nicotine, which is highly addictive and can harm brain development.
With common misconceptions leading adults and young people to believe e-cigarettes may not have negative health impacts, Bene-Alhasan says this study couldn’t have come at a better time.
“I think this research is long overdue, especially considering how much e-cigarettes have gained traction,” Bene-Alhasan said. “We don’t want to wait too long to find out eventually that it might be harmful, and by that time, a lot of harm might already have been done. With more research, we will get to uncover a lot more about the potential health consequences and improve the information out to the public.”